On the slightly cold and gray morning, I got up and prepared myself for a walk. In a rare occasion, I was actually getting ahead on my work. There was no procrastination in the driver’s seat; I pushed him to the back. Wrapped in my red, city-woman coat, I walked down the stairs in my dorm, Apple Maps ready to go.
As I exited the building, I felt sprinkles of rain. At that moment, I made an executive decision to keep going. The last time I decided to walk thirty minutes in the rain without an umbrella, I was left drenched and soggy. This time would be different, I thought with blind hope.
The route took me past the White House, the Trump hotel *barf*, and the National Archives. I took in the sights, listening to music and calling my dad, even getting to chat with my half brother. The walk was beautiful, even the rain brightened my experience. When I neared my destination, I had to cross a busy road, one side with no crosswalk. Content to cross the other way to get safely to the crosswalk, an older couple started across the crosswalkless street, and I went with them. Strength in numbers, right?
Well this is all leading up to the story of how I got hit by a car in the capital of the United States.
Just kidding! I made it safely across the street, as did my older partners in crime. From there, I walked into my destination: the National Gallery of Art.
After my bag was searched and I had a map of the building, I looked for the location of what I was really there for: an exhibit about Alonso Berruguete, the Spanish renaissance sculptor. This was my pick for my acontecimiento, or cultural activity for my Spanish class. After making a wrong turn and taking a quick excursion in Greek sculptures of the whatever century, I made it up the stairs to the rotunda. I was met with a beautiful fountain, high ceilings, and beautiful greenery. After stopping to take a picture, I took a left and followed the hall to the very end.
Passing through another room with a fun fountain and greenery, I made it to the home of some of Berruguete’s famous work. The exhibit followed him across his full career: from admiring his father’s work to studying in Italy to completely changing the face of sculpting in Spain. Highly religiously motivated, Berruguete created many retablos, or altarpieces. His work reflects the Bible’s stories, but also a sense of diversity, which is a lot to say for a highly religious man from the 16th century.
My favorite works were the grand altarpieces, shining in gold and reflecting pure emotion in each subject’s face. The exhibit features an example of a sculpture pre-Berruguete and man did it suck. I mean, all art is special yadda yadda, but his work just displays so much more meaning and expression and beauty. He shows beauty through the human experience, which doesn’t always seem so beautiful.
While I may not have gone to the exhibit just for the heck of it (my grade was a driving factor), I had a fabulous time. I walked there by myself, taking in the sights and sounds of DC. I had a completely new experience having never been to the National Gallery of Art, and I fully enjoyed myself. The work of Alonso Berruguete created a pivotal moment in the art of Spain. It brought the Renaissance sculpting of Italy to the Spaniards, connecting culture and furthering artistic expression in Spain. It also connected me, a freshly-adult woman from the Midwest, with this rich Spanish culture of the 16th century in the capital of the United States. Wow. Talk about an experience.
Faking It Made 